Sitting on my desk this morning is an Atom Battery. Accompanying this unexpected arrival is a note that reads, “Please test.” There are no suggestions on how I should conduct the test; it just needs to be completed.
Over a mug of tea, I came up with all sorts of stupid ideas for the test before realising that real-world performance is what matters. Everything else is “marketing”.
Consequently, this test will take some time, but any reason to ride motorcycles is always welcome.
Atom Batteries – Who and Why
Having decided how to test the Atom battery, I wondered why Atom decided to enter a market that Yuasa has dominated for years.
Competition is always a good thing, as it stops Yuasa from becoming complacent, but the electric car market shows us that there is nothing new in the world of batteries.
Batteries still run on the same chemical principle as they always have, and apart from lead-acid batteries being joined by Gel and AGM format batteries – more on them in a moment – there is nothing new.
So why get into a market that an established supplier already dominates?
Value For Money
Although battery technology hasn’t changed much, manufacturing techniques are constantly evolving. With one dominant player in the market, the benefits of new production methods might not always result in improved prices for you and me.
But value for money rather than just cost is what matters. If they built the perfect battery, it would perhaps cost too much and outlast the motorcycle. We’d end up buying something we’ll never get the full value from.
Then again, we could buy the cheapest piece of crap available, knowing it was good for six months, then SORN the bike and buy a new battery again next year. If it was cheap enough, this might be an acceptable answer.
Atom seems to be aiming for a battery that costs less than the market leader, takes advantage of global markets and modern manufacturing techniques, and aims to give us what we need rather than perfection.
Are Atom Batteries Any Good?
That is the big question. Atom batteries certainly win on price. A Yuasa Gel YTZ14S for my NT1100 from SportsBikeShop costs £85. The equivalent Atom battery—also called a YTZ14S—retails on their website for £33. After shipping, it would arrive at my door costing £41—less than half the price of the Yuasa.
The technical specification of the two batteries is very similar in all aspects except the cold cranking amps, where the Yuasa outstrips the Atom 2:1 (230 CCA Vs 140 CCA)
Winter Test
I’ll install the Atom battery in the NT1100 and do nothing to help it survive the colder months. With heated grips, Keis heated clothing, and the shorter trips that are more common in the cold months, I’ll put the battery through real-world winter riding.
The battery won’t receive any special treatment or benefit from downtime connected to an Optimate to keep it fresh and fully charged. I’ll simply leave it in the bike and see if it gets through winter unaided.
For comparison, Roger will keep the seven-year-old Yuasa in his Africa Twin fighting fit by connecting it to his Optimate through the dark, damp and soggy months.
What could possibly go wrong? There is only one way to find out, and when it’s all over, we’ll let you know the outcome.
Lead Acid, AGM and Gel Batteries
The article on Electric Motorcycles and the 15-minute Recharge discusses how batteries produce electricity. While this article concerns electric motorcycles, a battery is a battery, and they all work on the same principle.
The terms Lead Acid, AGM, and Gel refer to the separators and the electrolyte (the fluid) inside the battery. Changing the electrolyte does change the characteristics of the batteries, so they are not always cross-compatible, even though they are performing the same process.
The motorcycle journalists’ version – and therefore incomplete – of the differences between the batteries is:
- Lead Acid,as you might imagine, is a battery that uses “lead”—actually, it is an alloy, but that is a whole different topic—and acid to produce a rechargeable battery. These were very common until the early 1980s when maintenance-free batteries started appearing. Until then, topping up the battery electrolyte was part of the maintenance routine for every motorcycle.
- AGM batteries use an Absorbent Glass Mat soaked in the electrolyte. This reduces the production of hydrogen, a byproduct of the electrolyte evaporating, and makes the battery maintenance-free. It also reduces the weight and allows the battery to be sealed, allowing it to be mounted at odd angles if necessary.
- Gel batteries mix silica with the electrolyte, turning the acid from a liquid to a paste. This gives them all the advantages of an AGM battery, plus a much wider operating temperature range, as the paste has a lower freezing point and higher boiling point than the electrolyte in liquid form.
Motorcycle Parts Warehouse decided to test the temperature range claims by freezing an Atom Gel battery into a block of ice. After breaking the battery out of the ice by throwing it on the floor, it was immediately installed in a Suzuki GSX, and the battery had enough charge to start the motorcycle.
It’s unlikely that my battery would be frozen in ice; if it were, I’d stay indoors and hug a radiator. However, it shows that Atom Batteries have a wide operating temperature range and are durable in cold weather. But it is the real world that matters, and winter is coming.
